In 1887 Spurgeon
printed a series of articles denouncing liberal theology in The Sword and the
Trowel. The articles declared that the "new theology" had put the
Church on the "Down Grade." They became the spark that ignited the fire
storm that swept through the Baptist Church. But the roots of the down Grade
Controversy go back some years before its actual ignition in 1887. Actually, several
cultural, philosophical, and scientific events that took place in Victorian Britain played
a preliminary role. They created a general ehtos that proved conducive to the
reception of the "new theology."

[At the end of the Puritan age] by some means or other,
first the ministers, then the Churches, got on "the down grade," and
in some cases, the descent was rapid, and in all, very disastrous. In
proportion as the ministers seceded from the old Puritan godliness of life,
and the old Calvinistic form of doctrine, they commonly became less earnest
and less simple in their preaching, more speculative and less spiritual in the
matter of their discourses, and dwelt more on the moral teachings of the New
Testament, than on the great central truths of revelation. Natural theology
frequently took the place which the great truths of the gospel ought to have
held, and the sermons became more and more Christless. Corresponding results
in the character and life, first of the preachers and then of the people, were
only too plainly apparent.

Facsimile copies of the following
documents were compiled by Bob Ross and published by Pilgrim
Publications, Pasadena, TX, in a volume titled The "Down Grade" Controversy.
That volme is the source of this material.

THE SWORD AND THE TROWEL

(DECEMBER, 1889)

This Must Be A Soldier's Battle

ONE who is very valiant for the truth said to us, "This must be a
soldiersbattle." In that utterance we heartily concur. The gospel of the Lord
Jesus is now assailed all along the line. Scarcely a denomination is free from the enemies
of the truth: they are within our ranks. In the Church of England the superstitious
errorists are more to the front than the skeptical; and it is not an easy warfare which
falls to the lot of Evangelicals within the Establishment. How is it they are there? Those
who are seeking a decision upon the matters raised by the action of the Bishop of Lincoln,
are going straight to the point, and raising the question of Mass or no Mass in the most
plain and practical manner. But if the result of the episcopal trial should be
unfavorable, every Protestant man and woman should look upon the case as one for the
personal conscience, and should, by individual action, drive the Evangelicals to a plain
and unmistakable course of action. Among Baptists, the great need is the personal
investigation of the matters in debate by the members of our churches. It is clear that
the members of the Council have nothing to say except by way of rebuke of any who protest
against the growing error. The ministers also cry, "Peace, peace, where there is no
peace." If sturdy individuality took up the matter, and godly men were determined not
to remain in league with those who depart from the truth, the issues would be speedy.

A Congregational minister asks for an opportunity for the rank and file
of the ministry to speak; and his impression is, that ninety-five percent. Would be found
to be on the old lines. We sincerely wish that we could believe it; but we think he puts
his percentage far too high. Still, if in our free churches there were fair opportunities
for utterance, either by the voice or through the press, we feel confident that the
Broad School gentlemen would find themselves very much in the minority. But the hour of
free speech will not come till the old Nonconforming spirit asserts itself in the pastors,
deacons, and church-members, and the gag is taken off from the religions press. We are
glad to hope that by other organs the truth will yet gain liberty to speak through the
press. It is possible that a clique is now predominant, and that the mass of the people
are misrepresented by them: if it be so, let them declare themselves. The Free Church of
Scotland must, unhappily, be for the moment regarded as rushing to the front with its new
theology, which is no theology, but an opposition to the Word of the Lord. That church in
which we all gloried, as sound in the faith, and full of the martyrs spirit, has
entrusted the training of its future ministers to two professors who hold other doctrines
than those of its Confession. This is the most suicidal act that a church can commit. It
is strange that two gentlemen, who are seeking for something newer and better than the old
faith, should condescend to accept a position which implies their agreement, with the
ancient doctrines of the church; but delicacy of feeling is not a common article nowadays,
and the action of creeds is not automatic, as it would be if consciences were tender. In
the Free Church there is a Confession, and there are means for carrying out discipline;
but these will be worth nothing without the personal action of all the faithful in that
community. Every man who keeps aloof from the struggle for the sake of peace, will have
the blood of souls upon his head. The question in debate at the Disruption was secondary
compared with that which is now at issue. It is Bible or no Bible, Atonement or no
Atonement,which we have now to settle. Stripped of beclouding terms and phrases, this lies
at the bottom of the discussion; and every lover of the Lord Jesus should feel himself
called upon to take his part in an earnest contention for the faith once for all delivered
to the saints. From the exceeding boldness of Messrs. Bruce and Dods, we gather that they
feel perfectly safe in ventilating their opinions. They evidently reckon upon a majority
which will secure them immunity; and our fear is that they will actually gain that which
they expect. We are not sanguine enough to believe that they are mistaken. Unless the
whole church shall awake to its duty, the Evangelicals in the Free Church are doomed to
see another reign of Moderatism. Have they suffered so many things in vain? Will they not
now make a stand?

Finding ourselves in a community which had no articles of faith, and
seeing deadly error rising up, we had no course but to withdraw. Whether others think fit
to do so or not is no part of our responsibility; but nothing can free any true believer
from the duty of maintaining pure and undefiled religion in its doctrine, as well as in
its practice, by every means in his power. The most quiet country minister, the most
retiring deacon or elder, the most obscure Christian man or womaneach one must come
up to the help of the Lord against the mighty. The crisis becomes every day more acute:
delays are dangerous; hesitation is ruinous. Whosoever is on the Lords side must
show it at once, and without fail. Let those who so sadly pine for "another
reformation," and a remodeled creed, stand out and say so, and no longer conceal
their sentiments, or eat the bread of men at whose most cherished convictions they are
stabbing with might and main. Let these be honest, and let the Evangelicals be true. The
church expects every man to do his duty. NOTES (FEB. 1890)

A certain newspaper paragraph very kindly attempts to comfort "Mr.
Spurgeon at his worst stage of depression concerning the doubts of the day," by the
assurance that religion can never pass away. We can assure our friend that we never
thought it could. No fear as to the ultimate victory of the truth of God ever disturbs our
mind. We are sure that the doctrines of the gospel will outlive all the dotings of
"modern thought." The trouble is that, for the moment, error is having its own
way in certain parts of the visible church, where better things once ruled; and, worse
still, that good men will not see the evil, or, seeing it, wink at it, and imagine that it
will do no very great deal of harm. It is ours to give warning of a danger which to us is
manifest and alarming; and if the warning makes us the butt of ridicule, we must bear it.
Our protest is, no doubt, regarded by some as a piece of bigotry, and by others, as the
dream of a nervous mind. Neither conjecture is correct; but we speak the words of love and
soberness. An American, who enquired of certain leaders in the "Down-Grade" what
they thought of Spurgeons conduct, was informed that sickness and age had weakened
his intellect. This has been their contemptuous method all along; but facts are not to be
set aside by such remarks. Be the protester what he may, he declares his protest to
be solemnly needful, and he begs for attention to it. It may be the old truth is in the
minority, and that those who uphold it are thought to be troublers in Israel, and causers
of false alarm: but we are none the less confident that, when good men return to their
better selves, they will see differently. Bitterly will some regret that they allowed
matters to drift, and drift, till they had wrought incalculable mischief. We have spoken
in saddest earnest. It is no pleasure to us to stand apart, and refuse complicity with
what we judge to be a great crime. Our witness is on high. The Lord will judge
between us and the enemies of the faith in his own good time !

From a Congregational Church a brother writes :" I have
heard several friends say that your pictures of the  Down-Grade  are
overdrawn; but in our church they have been photographs. Commencing with denial of eternal
punishment, our minister has gone on to talk of Marks garbled
statements, the legend of the Angels song, and The myth of
the Resurrection. He says, Christ is the natural son of Joseph and Mary,
and that the Bible is but one of the Scriptures of the human race. ....
May the churches heed your warning, and so be saved from our fate !" In this
instance, old members are driven out, and all protesters are held up to ridicule in the
public prints as bigots wanting in common sense. The churches are, some of them, courting
the fate of this church by seeking out clever men for preachers, irrespective of their
doctrinal beliefs. But, on the other hand, many are growing cautious, and, having been
once bitten, are shy of the new school. The evangelicals in the churches are beginning to
be divided from the Broad School; and when the opportunity has occurred, they have been,
in some cases, strong enough and bold enough to claim their rights. We wish it were so
more generally; but we know several notable instances which put us in good hope that the
present tyranny of falsehood will not last for ever. Still, these brighter signs are but
gleams in a darkening sky. The men who take the lead are, in many cases, halfhearted as to
truth, and they yield themselves up to the dogmatic assertions of the non-evangelical
intruders. Tender as mothers to every new heresy-vendor, the men in office in the
denominations have a hard, ungenerous side for the faithful adherents of the old gospel.
We may go where we willwe are not worth a thought; but the most flippant blasphemer
shall have honor for his courage and independence! Happily, this is a small matter to some
of us now, for our ecclesiastical relationships are for ever severed; but there is none
the less of gross injustice in such conduct towards those who cannot turn their coats, or
profess to love what they inwardly abhor.

NOTES (MAY 1891)

NUMBERS of friends now write to say how true our words upon the
"Down-grade" were years ago. It is our deep regret that it should be so. We
spoke not without knowing what we were about. It was not possible for us to give up all
our authorities, nor would it have served any useful purpose to have published names; but
we spoke truth which we could not help believing, and spoke it without exaggerating.
Matters were even worse than we knew of. We have not only to do with the lion of open
unbelief, but with the foxes of craft, who profess to love the gospel which they labor
hard to undermine. If we had to bear our witness over again, we should not soften a
syllable, but add emphasis to it. Indignant correspondents continually send us notices of
amusements held by various churches; certainly, they can hardly become more childish and
inane. But we cannot be perpetually recording and talking about these absurdities. Cannot
Christian people make their own protests more emphatic in their several districts? It is
all very well to send this wretched rubbish to us; but why not sweep it away yourselves?
If we had a gracious revival, good people would find better things to do than to get up
nigger entertainments, and theatricals.

Our old-fashioned Wesleyan friends must be greatly surprised by the
utterances of certain of their leading men; they have great need to look after the
professors who train their rising ministry; for if they cannot give a better account of
Holy Writ than the divine from Richmond, tutorship is in a poor way. The record given of
the meeting, in the newspapers, was more alarming than the actual facts; for the seamy
side of the talk was made more prominent than it really was; but the very best we can make
of Professor Davisons paper, and the comments upon it, causes us great apprehension.
With the delicate tread which reminds us of Agag, error enters as though it were a
well-known and familiar friend. Certain books of the Bible are dealt with in reference to
modern criticism with the air of one who has settled the business, an placed the matter
beyond dispute. Very modestly as to language, but very dogmatically as to statement, the
Professor lay down the law. We do not accept a syllable of that unquestionable result of
scholarship which he so coolly propounds. Although upon the doctrines of grace our views
differ from those avowed by Arminian Methodists, we have usually found that on the great
evangelical truths we are in full agreement, and we have been comforted by the belief that
Wesleyans were solid upon the central doctrines. We are truly sorry that we are now placed
in doubt. Surely there are voices which will yet be heard. We know that there are hearts
that are aching because of this last movement of leading religionists in the downward way
but will anyone be bold enough to speak out? Ostracism seems to be dreaded so much, that
good men and true hold their tongues. Nevertheless, we know the Holy Spirit did not use
words at random, and we shall never consent to that liberalism which, in destroying the
shell of the language, really kills the life-germ of the meaning.

"MR. SPURGEONS CONFESSION OF FAITH." (AUGUST
1891)

QUITE a stir has been caused lately by the publication of the
following document, which has been erroneously called "Mr. Spurgeons Confession
of Faith," or "Manifesto":

We, the undersigned, banded together in Fraternal Union, observing with
growing pain and sorrow the loosening hold of many upon the Truths of Revelation, are
constrained to avow our firmest belief in the Verbal Inspiration of all Holy Scripture as
originally given. To us, the Bible does not merely contain the Word of God, but is the
Word of God. From

beginning to end, we accept it, believe it, and continue to preach it.
To us, the Old Testament is no less inspired than the New. The Book is an organic whole.
Reverence for the NEW Testament accompanied by skepticism as to the OLD appears to us
absurd. The two must stand or fall together. We accept Christs own verdict
concerning "Moses and all the prophets" in preference to any of the supposed
discoveries of so-called higher criticism.

We hold and maintain the truths generally known as "the doctrines
of grace." The Electing Love of God the Father, the Propitiatory and Substitutionary
Sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ, Regeneration by the Holy Ghost, the Imputation of
Christs Righteousness, the Justification of the sinner (once for all) by faith, his
walk in newness of life and growth in grace by the active indwelling of the Holy Ghost,
and the Priestly Intercession of our Lord Jesus, as also the hopeless perdition of all who
reject the Savior, according to the words of the Lord in Matthew 25:46, "These shall
go away into eternal punishment,"are, in our judgment, revealed and fundamental
truths. Our hope is the Personal Pre-millennial Return of the Lord Jesus in glory.

Because Mr. Spurgeons name was appended to this avowal of belief,
it was supposed that he wrote it, and issued it to the world. Some, very wise people even
discovered that this was the creed that Mr. Spurgeon wanted to force down the unwilling
throat of the Baptist Union! Poor souls, it is really a pity to be obliged to dispel such
blissful ignorance! Yet dispelled it will be, as soon as the simple but true story of the
manifesto is told.

About eighteen months ago, the seven brethren, whose names appear at
the head of the above list, banded themselves together as a "Fraternal"; and
from time to time they have invited other like-minded brethren to join them. Membership is
not confined to Baptists. Dr. Sinclair Paterson belongs to the brotherhood, as did the
late Dr. Adolph Saphir, until he was called to the presence of the Lord he had so long and
faithfully served. Several public meetings have been held, at which clear testimony upon
the fundamental doctrines of the gospel has been given by various members. In addition,
many private gatherings for prayer and consultation upon the Word and work of the Lord
have taken place. At one of these, it was suggested (not, however, by Mr. Spurgeon) that
the time had arrived when attention should be called, through the religious and secular
press of the country, to certain truths which, in many quarters, are either ignored or
rejected. The suggestion met with general approval, a committee was appointed to prepare
the document; in due time it was submitted to the whole company, and when the exact
wording had been settled, each member signed it in the form in which it has been published
to the church and the world. It might just as well be called "Mr. Archibald
Browns Confession of Faith," or Mr. Whites, or Mr. Hoopers, or Dr.
Patersons. It is as much theirs as it is Mr. Spurgeons, and as much his as
theirs; but no more appertaining to any one of the thirty than to all the rest.

It is certainly a "confession of faith" in this sense, that
the brethren whose names are appended to it do believe what they there state, and they are
not ashamed to confess their faith before any number of witnesses; but no one of them
would think of regarding this short statement as a full declaration of all that he
believes about the great verities of God. As for "Mr. Spurgeons Confession of
Faith," any one who wants to read that will find it "writ large" in the
thirty-six volumes of The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit. If the reading of two thousand
two hundred sermons is too great a task for the searcher after "Mr. Spurgeons
Confession of Faith," he will be able to get a condensation of it in the
Presidents Address delivered at the last College Conference We venture to repeat
here almost the last words written by Mr. Spurgeon before his illness :

"The Greatest Fight in the World is our testimony for the present
moment. It is to be had in a neat form, and at a very small pricenamely, sixpence.
Nothing would please us more than to see it scattered by scores of thousands, and rousing
a controversy on essential truths .... Those of our readers who abhor modern heresies,
will be our true allies if they will help us in scattering this bombshell where it may do
execution. In this address we speak without bitterness, but also without reserve. The
present policy of the Down-grade men is to be quiet and cautious; but we shall no more
copy their method than their doctrine. Our speech is outspoken. Friends will be pleased to
know that the demand for the first edition far exceeds our expectations. Why not go in for
fifty thousand?" A translation of "Mr. Spurgeons Confession of
Faith," that even men of the world can understand, will be found at the Stockwell
Orphanage, where living faith shows itself in works of mercy for the widow and the
fatherless (James 2:14-18).

The manifesto has not met with universal approval. The Christian World
ridiculed "The Faithful Few," by the quotation marks in the heading
of a short article, in which it said :" It is a document which few will read
without a feeling of perplexity and sadness. These thirty gentlemen appear to regard
themselves as a little band of faithful adherents to the truth amidst a faithless church.
The profoundest thought, the highest learning, the devoutest inquiry, are by implication
branded as treason to the truth, if they have reached conclusions different from those
propounded in this manifesto. Infallibility would seem to be the reward of the resolute
refusal to allow the light of science and scholarship to fall upon the divine Word.

All must be wrong except the few who can pronounce this
Shibboleth" Thank you, dear Christian World; but your censure is a choice compliment
and commendation to every member of the Fraternal! The Echo called the manifesto "A
Voice from Dark Ages." A northern newspaper wrote as follows: "No one who
does not possess the power to an alarming extent of persuading himself anything, can
possibly, if he have any real acquaintance with the controversy, hold the views as to the
sense in which the Bible is divine revelation which prevailed ,in almost all the churches
fifty years ago, It is not that theories have been formed; but facts have been brought to
light which must modify old-fashioned opinions, and have already modified them to a
considerable extent. It did not, however, require any new discoveries of criticism to
disprove the dogma of verbal inspiration upon which Mr. Spurgeon and his friends insist as
one of the prime essentials of Christianity. If it be an essential, then Christianity is
no better than a myth. And these men, with all their boasted loyalty to religion, ought
surely to see that in associating the Christian belief with unnecessary, unprovable, and
directly disprovable dogma, they are doing the work of the atheist and unbeliever, who
stand by smiling to see the process of destruction going on from within. If religion and
verbal inspiration must stand or fall together, then it is the latter alternative which
will happenassuredly they will fall." The italics are ours.

The Baptist, in publishing the manifesto, said :"It is
perhaps remarkable, not so much for the signatories, as for the names which are
conspicuous by their absence." Similar remarks have been made by other papers; but
the writers of them appear not to have noticed the first words of the document
:" We, the undersigned, banded together in Fraternal Union." It is just
what it professes to be, an avowal of belief made by the members of a Fraternal. If it is
asked, "Why is Mr. So-and-sos name not there?" the answer is," He is
not a member of the Fraternal, and therefore his name has no right to be there." Many
clergymen and ministers have written, expressing their willingness to sign the manifesto;
and various signs indicate that there is a very widespread desire for some kind of union
in which lovers of the old faith might join with brethren like-minded, without being
compromised by association with those who are not one with them in the faith. That,
however, was not the object of those who signed this paper. Fraternals have been used
often enough for the spread of Down-grade error; it therefore seemed right to make use of
a Fraternal for the declaration of belief in Up-grade truth. If any Down-graders are not
satisfied with what has been done, let them accept the challenge of the editor of Word and
Work, himself one of the signatories of the document :"

Such a manifesto as this is at least timely, and the men who sign it
make no secret of their creed. Is it too much to expect that those who have changed their
beliefs will be honest enough to express in language similarly plain the extent of the
change, that all the world may see clearly where they stand? It is a fair challenge; will
it elicit a fair response?"

ARTICLES FROM THE SWORD AND TROWEL
CONCERNING THE DOWN GRADE CONTROVERSY